


Flirting 101

by Methoxyethane



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: But a damned cute one, Drunken Flirting, Humor, M/M, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 10:22:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12188130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methoxyethane/pseuds/Methoxyethane
Summary: Well in his DEFENSE, Sokka and Zuko have gotten drunk together before and the only stupid consequences had involved the harassment of a pond full of turtleducks and absolutely no making out of any kind. Tonight... just went in a different direction, is all!





	Flirting 101

“Wait, _seriously_?” Sokka couldn’t help but ask, alcohol letting his tongue slip a little too loose. “You were dating Mai for like, two years! How have you NEVER?”

Zuko shrugged, staying hunched down into his own shoulders at the end of the gesture. “I don’t know, we just never… got around to it? Everyone made it seem like sex would just sort of _happen_ so… it didn’t make any sense to push it.” He looked more than a little awkward, glaring into his own drink instead of anywhere near Sokka. “Is it really that weird?”

“Well… it wouldn’t have been weird if you didn’t have a girlfriend the entire time? I can’t imagine it NOT coming up!” He admitted. “Weren’t you two ever like, in bed kissing each other, and letting your hands wander over each other’s bodies and had things get all warmed up like you just HAD to be closer to her?”

At this point, Zuko just looked downright embarrassed. “..We never… slept together at all? So. No. We were never in a bed for that to be able to happen.”

And now Sokka’s jaw had to drop a little, because my god Sokka had had a girlfriend on another damned CONTINENT and still found time to sleep next to her. Until, you know, the blowup thing happened. “You never even slept together just to _sleep_ , either? For two years? Were you two even really _dating?”_

Zuko was pretty much shriveled over his cup by now, muttering a wildly uncomfortable, “I don’t know, she was my first girlfriend! I don’t know ANYTHING about normal! I don’t even really know how we started going out!”

Wow… Sokka did not actually know how to react at this point. “Well,” he offered lamely. “Guess it makes sense that you guys broke up, huh?”

“That’s not WHY we broke up,” Zuko defended. “And it’s not even that weird that we never did… _that_! She never brought it up either, and Mai was ever exactly shy about her needs.”

If Sokka had a response to that, it was cut off by another fast interruption from Zuko as he drowned them in the last of the liquor in his cup. “Why, why are we talking about this,” he stuttered angrily, empty glass hitting the table with a thud. “You said you wanted to hang out, you said that we needed to go have fun, this is not fun. Talking about ex-girlfriends is not how I have a good time, Sokka.”

Fair enough. “Sorry, I just, uh. Right. My bad. No talking about our sex lives, then. Since… you’ve never had one at all. There are other things to catch up on!”

Most of the other things they had to catch up on they already knew about, though. Sokka was traveling around pretty much constantly, and made sure he always had excuses to hit the places his friends were while he went. And since Zuko never really had time to leave the damned Fire Nation, that made him the easiest person to find at any given moment so… Sokka ended up coming around kind of a lot.

Not that he was incapable of thinking of anything else to talk about of anything. Like, they were friends, Sokka and Zuko could and already had spend days on hanging out even WITHOUT things to say, any awkward silence Zuko left empty by stumbling over a thought Sokka filled up with inane chatter and everything worked out fine.

But Sokka was having a little bit of trouble not dwelling on this whole thing where Zuko had apparently never had sex before. The idea of anyone who he knew was older than him having less experience than Sokka himself was weird just to start with, and it being _Zuko_? Who was literally one of the most attractive people Sokka had ever laid eyes on? It was crazy! It was a _waste_.

...Oh, he might be drunk, huh? Well. Not like he never stared absently at the white white skin of Zuko’s neck when he WASN’T drunk, but you know. The fact that he’d started thinking with his dick was a pretty obvious sign. For some reason, it seemed like a better idea to take another drink himself than think too deeply about this.

“So, like… have you thought about it?”

A confused blinked was Zuko’s offered response, and Sokka realized he’d probably been quiet too long for that question to have any context. “...Do I think about sex? Of course I do, everyone does. I’m still a guy.”

Okay, so he thought about sex, but it had never come up when he was with his girlfriend? _For two years?_ “...Do you think about sex with _girls_?”

Zuko snapped into sitting ramrod straight, face instantly flaming red as it whipped around to shoot a glare at Sokka. “What the hell, Sokka? Fuck you, I don’t know! What do YOU think about?”

It was an automatic defense and not a real question, but Sokka was buzzed enough to answer it anyway. “Oh, usually girls I guess, but sometimes I’m the mood for a more manly adventure and my mind will wander other directions.”

Apparently, that had not been the answer Zuko was expecting. His jaw was dropped open a little and eyes widened before they darted back down to bore holes into the table. “I - uh... Oh. Yeah I guess I… also both.” An uncomfortable pause that went on way longer than Sokka probably should have let it. “...Probably… guys more, though. If I stop to add it up, or whatever.”

Theeeere we go. At least it went as far as explaining Mai, ignoring whatever her own issues had been in that regard. Sokka also found himself pleased by this information for other more secret reasons having less to do with solving this little mystery here and and entirely to do with facts like Sokka being horny, Zuko being unfairly attractive, and the last person Sokka having seen naked being god damned _Aang_ of all uselessness. Still, that was, you know, not a territory that was in any way safe to wander into. The Zuko being hot thing, that is. Not allowed. “Okay, so… you and Mai have been broken up for a long time. You didn’t ever like, go on a date with anyone else? Guy _or_ girl?” He pursued instead.

Zuko looked like he hated Sokka for still talking about this, which was understandable. A few personal boundaries were being crossed here, but in Sokka’s defense he’d just come back from a visit with Toph who had NO boundaries and had been very explicit about her own sexual adventures, so. He was gonna blame her bad influence. “What? No, that would mean I’d have to… _flirt_.” A look like he’d bitten into a lemon. “I don’t even like political negotiations and flirting is like, that times TEN. It’s awful.”

He didn’t want to sound like he was making fun of Zuko but the laugh was impossible to suppress. Great Firelord Zuko, the leader who'd brought peace to his nation, and by far and away the most awkward and unsociable person of all time. Sokka was so fucking glad they were friends.

“Shut up,” Zuko muttered darkly, jabbing Sokka in the side with the nose of an empty liquor bottle from earlier this evening. “Of course that shit’s easy for someone like you, who has… _charisma_.” he spat the word like it was personally offensive, as though the very concept of being personable and charming was the bane of his existence. Honestly knowing Zuko, it might be.

“Sorry,” Sokka apologized easily. “I wasn’t making fun, I was just laughing because of how cute you are.”

The bottle tumbled out of Zuko’s hand to hit the floor in a hollow clank, and whoops, Sokka had not meant to say that. Before Zuko could stutter out any kind of response Sokka was already leaping back in with, “See? Flirting isn’t hard. All you need to do is compliment them!”

While Zuko was sputtering, Sokka was just gonna go ahead and drown out that little flub with a new drink himself. Drunker was probably better right now, right? How could it not be!

“Well I’m not as good at making up nice things to say,” Zuko scoffed, and Sokka wondered if his face was still that red from the liquor or just because he was that embarrassed. Either way it looked good on him, painted across high cheekbones and spreading all the way to his ears and down his neck… His hair was still mostly stuffed up into that little royal bun of his, only a few long black strands wandering out to curl against the back of his long neck and into the collar of his robe…

What was going on again? “You don’t have to make things up, just tell the truth! Find something nice you like about them and then say it!”

Incredulously, Zuko drawled back. “Two seconds ago you called me cute.”

Well. So much for covering that one up. Fuck it, Sokka shrugged. “Who says I didn’t mean it? Maybe I’ve only never told you you’re cute before because I’ve never tried to flirt with you.” Okay, was it still possible to make himself not look like an asshole here? “It’s easy, even you can flirt if you just concentrate on talking about their good traits.” The most effective way of flirting Sokka had ever found was actually to just make everything an innuendo, but that seemed like the sort of technique that wouldn’t end well if someone as awkward as Zuko tried it. “You just have to make it sound good! Like,” a brief pause to think, before Sokka leaned over to make sure he had Zuko’s attention, because the eyebrow flicker was a key part of this and had to be witnessed for full effect. “I know people probably say this all the time, but your eyes are breathtaking. I’d say they remind me of a sunrise, but that would hardly do them justice; the sun comes up every day, but that gaze is once-in-a-lifetime stunning.”

It appeared at first glance as though he had given Zuko a heart attack. Everything that hadn’t already been red before was now, eyes almost comically wide as he barked, “What hell, man?!”

“Sorry, that was kind of cliche, huh?” Sokka apologized, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I was just winging it from looking at your face. Anyway, now you try. You don’t have to be nearly as poetic as me, just uh…”

What was he saying here? What was he doing again? Right, teaching Zuko to flirt. For some reason. Even though now that Sokka thought about it, the idea of Zuko actually learning and then proceeding to flirt his way into a new boyfriend or whatever was actually kind of… Nooooooottt Sokka’s business! Even if it did make him think back on that fact where Zuko was somehow a virgin, and then connect it to imagine said new boyfriend… de-virginizing the FireLord.

NOPE. Bad Sokka! Down boy!. “You know, come up with something nice to say about me,” he plowed on with determination. “I don’t have to be your type or anything, you should still be able to find _one_ thing about me that you can compliment.”

From the look of horror on Zuko’s face, you’d think Sokka had just asked him cut out his own spleen. Well actually knowing Zuko, cutting his own organs out WOULD  be preferable than being forced to think of something nice to say. “Why are you doing this to me. I just want to be drunk, Sokka.”

“Come on, man, would you rather embarrass yourself in front of me or in front of the next pretty stranger who tries to get sweet on you?”

Reasonably enough, that made him look even more panicked. “I…” Zuko began ineloquently. “You… are very tan?”

...Was…. was that it? A comment which was neither an actual compliment or anything else that could possibly be taken as flirting? Sokka heard the sound of laughter before he even realized it was coming from himself. “Oh man, I must REALLY not be your type if that’s the best you can come up with!”

There was, he believed, actual smoke coming out of Zuko’s ears. It turned out to just be the lamp on the table that Zuko was blocking Sokka’s view of flaring up and burning out, but either way there was no denying he’d gotten flustered enough for a little accidental firebending. “That’s - it’s not anything like that! It’s already embarrassing enough to forever know you think _I’m_ cute, if I said - if you knew -” he cut himself off with a disgusted shudder, still making a point to look pretty much anywhere that wasn’t Sokka. “I still need to be able to look you in the eye tomorrow.”

Zuko had one hand wrapped around his cup and the other covering his face, eyes peeking out from between his fingers but not so he could open his eyes to see anything through them. Holy crap, was Zuko this cute was he wasn’t drunk? Was he this cute when SOKKA wasn’t drunk? Either way it was… addicting. Sokka wanted to embarrass him even _more_.

“So what, you don’t wanna flirt with me? It’d be bad if I said something else like…” What would be good here… Zuko had a host of good traits to pick from, and Sokka found himself momentarily distracted upon notice of the way Zuko’s collar had been pulled loose at some point, revealing an enticing sliver of white skin he stared at for just a little too long. “Sometimes when I see you shirtless ‘cause you’re firebending or whatever I get caught up staring at the muscles of your back and shoulders and can only think about biting into the nape of your neck.”

“Why the fuck would you say that?!” Zuko demanded, pounding his fist on the table hard enough to topple their latest now-empty liquor bottle. “Are you just messing with me now?!”

Whoa shit, now that the words he’d actually said were like, registering in Sokka’s brain, that HAD been a bad one. Bad enough enough in fact that his drunken horror made his elbow slip where it was holding his weight on the table so that he was faceplanting into it. “That,” he admitted meekly once he had righted himself, “may have taken the flirting a bit far! My bad there! On that one! Sorry!”

Zuko looked annoyed and determined and _definitely_ drunk as he pushed himself into standing with a visible wobble. “Fuck this,” he declared, spinning loom over Sokka. “You’re not the only one who gets to make tomorrow weird, buddy!”

Which was, Sokka reflected, kind of an odd thing to say before you kissed someone.

Not that that stopped him from sinking into it, responding until the kiss slowly turned from drunk and sloppy to something a bit more graceful. Zuko sunk at about the same pace, knees melting under him until he was all but sitting on Sokka’s lap, now close enough to reach for Sokka to be able to slip his hand around the back of his head.

It was clumsy at first and tasted entirely too much like alcohol, but it turned out Zuko was damned good at kissing. Which made sense, since making out was apparently as far as he’d ever gone, so he’d have had plenty of time to uh, refine the skill. Either way Sokka was certainly reaping the benefits now, sucking on Zuko’s warm tongue and scratching blunt nails in to mess up his hair while Zuko gave as good as he got in an unsurprising display of aggressiveness.

It was _super_ fucking hot.

He could feel Zuko’s long hair coming undone under his hands, messy strands falling out of their hairpin to tangle in Sokka’s fingers. He could feel Zuko’s own hand wrapped around his bicep like a searing-hot vice, and pretty soon any thought that wasn’t getting that burning body closer to his own was wiped to the back of his mind in a drunken lusty fog.

When Zuko pulled back to break the kiss his intention obviously wasn’t to stop, but one last thread of reason returned to Sokka with the loss of skin contact and reminded him of a slightly urgent dilemma. More urgent than, and directly related to, his growing whalebone over here.

“Wait,” he managed before he even remembered what the problem was. “Wait, we can’t just… we’re in the middle of..” What room were they in again? Fuckin’ palaces. “Anywhere, a servant or guard could just walk in here, there’s not a real door.”

Zuko pulled back to squint at Sokka for two dizzy seconds. “You’re right,” he decided, thankfully lifting himself off of Sokka’s lap so that normal brain function could return to remind him, oh right, the REAL problem was _don’t make out with your best friend!_

Zuko’s royal robes were disheveled and his hair was a mess, a black inkstain falling out of his bun to hang in his eyes and brush against his broad shoulders. “My room is a few halls from here. No one will interrupt us there.”

Sokka’s heart slammed against his ribcage, eyes widening and blood rushing in panic and arousal. Oh shit, forgot just being weird tomorrow, this was… This would…

Zuko raised his one good eyebrow into a quirk, waiting expectantly for Sokka.

“Right,” is what he found himself saying, standing up. “Lead the way.”

 

\--

 

 feel free to yell at me at either my garbage/fandom blog [yoyo-dodo ](http://yoyo-dodo.tumblr.com/)or writing/porn blog [thesmutwitch](http://thesmutwitch.tumblr.com/)


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